Today the Telecommunications Act of 1996 turns 21. As some have remarked, the law is now old enough to drink, even while others note that it’s driven many to drink in the last two decades. Happy Birthday 1996 Telecom Act. You’re old enough to drink now, which is fair since that’s what you’ve made the […]
Radio stations hacked to play “F— Donald Trump” over and over. Concerns that Trump declaring himself a candidate for 2020 already might limit non-comms’ ability to criticize him. And with an Entercom / CBS Radio merger on the horizon, what does this all mean for community radio and podcasting? John Anderson, Assistant Professor of Television […]
On Monday the Trump administration announced the appointment of Ajit Pai as the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Last week when we talked to Prof. Christopher Terry from the University of Minnesota he predicted that Pai would be the pick, and now that it’s happened we call him back to help us understand […]
On August 10, 2016, the Federal Communications Commission released The Second Report and Order which concluded the agency’s long proceeding–launched in 2010 and renewed in 2014–dealing with media ownership rules. This order represents yet another failure–and lost opportunity–within the agency’s 13-year legacy of failure in addressing the problems of the consolidation and the sharply diminished […]
Brooklyn, NY has been a hotbed of pirate radio activity for quite some time. The borough is home to many ethnic and religious communities that are not well served by the region’s major broadcasters, leading some to take to the airwaves to serve local needs without a license. As Prof. John Anderson of DIYmedia.net explained […]
As scientists anticipate more hurricanes in a warming world, the Federal Communications Commission has authorized three new Emergency Alert System event codes. They are: “Extreme Wind Warning” (EWW), “Storm Surge Watch” (SWW), and “Storm Surge Warning” (SSW). The EAS allows state and local emergency networks to issue warnings about tornados and hurricanes directly over the radio airwaves. […]
Editor’s Note: Prof. Terry also guests on this week’s Radio Survivor Podcast, which is a companion to this post. The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals recently handed down a decision in a third round of the case Prometheus Radio Project v FCC. This decision, while reasonably straightforward, has the potential to be earth shattering to […]
Licensed radio stations of all types–including LPFMs–are required to stay on the air, unless granted specific and limited exemptions by the FCC. The logic is clear and sound: licenses are for broadcasting, not collecting and monopolizing like so many empty parcels of land. A church-owned station in Buffalo, WY recently fell afoul of this rule. […]
Public radio station WPPB-FM in Southampton, New York must forfeit $10,000 to the U.S. government due to public file violations. According to an order released by the FCC this week, the station, whose license is held by Peconic Public Broadcasting, neglected to maintain 13 of its quarterly issues and programs lists. After the FCC issued […]
As the first round of AM stations get a shot at having translator repeaters on the FM dial, the FCC’s AM revitalization proceeding is still not completely resolved. There are still several questions that the Commission is accepting comments on, until March 21. Broadcast attorney David Oxenford presents a very thorough rundown of these issues […]
